Last year, a study found that the majority of schools were failing to increase provision on the back of the Olympics and some may actually be cutting back on football, hockey, rugby, tennis, cricket or athletics.

Speaking before an appearance at the North of England Education Conference in Sheffield, Lady Campbell, chairwoman of UK Sport, said standards were particularly poor in primary schools.

“Some secondary school teachers have 11-year-old pupils who hardly move, let alone catch or run,” she said. “If a teacher has 10 children out of 30 like that in a class, it is a job to give them the focus they need. They have hardly done anything.

“They can’t catch, throw, jump or run – the fundamental basic movements of every sport.”

She added: "We have seen a rise in the number of youngsters wanting to get involved in sport after the Olympics but we do not have specialist PE teachers in primary schools.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm but not the know-how to provide the right kind of opportunities. We have inspired a generation but can we convert that into participation?”

Lady Campbell said that schools were “concerned about establishing literacy and numeracy by 10 or 11, but also need to be concerned with establishing physical literacy by that age”.

The Department for Education has insisted that it is placing competitive sport at the centre of its school reforms by raising its status in the primary curriculum and staging an Olympics-style school games.